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FA Women's Premier League
The FA Women's Premier League (WPL) is a Football Association–branded league and is run by an elected management committee along with FA Board representatives. It sits at step 1 and 2 of the current women's winter football pyramid in England and level 3 and 4 of women's football in England overall, supporting and underpinning the Women's Super League (WSL). Format The Women's Premier League consists, as of 2014–15, of a Northern and Southern division and four Division 1 leagues. In the 2014–15 season, 72 teams competed in the two divisions of the Women's Premier League. From its foundation in 1992–93 through until 2012–13, the league was run in a pyramid format, with the FA Women's Premier League National Division at the top, and the Northern and Southern divisions running on an equal basis underneath the National Division. The winners of these leagues each season were promoted to the National Division. The terms Women's Premiership and Ladies Premiership were generally used for the National Division only. The National division had been the top tier of women's football on its foundation, but was demoted after the creation of the FA Women's Super League in 2011. Following the 2012–13 season, the National Division was scrapped due to the FA's decision to add a second division to the WSL for the 2014 season (note that the WSL is a summer league, as opposed to the Premier League's winter format). For the 2014/15 season the Premier League was restructured to have a second level, for this the Combination Women's Football Leagues were incorporated to the new Division 1. At level 3 in the pyramid now is the Northern and Southern division, a level below are four groups of Division 1 leagues: Northern, Midlands, South-East and South-West. In addition, the winners of the Northern and Southern Divisions would play each other in a one-off play-off at a neutral venue for an opportunity to be promoted into the WSL, the first instance of promotion between the WPL and the WSL. This play-off was contested between Portsmouth FC Ladies and Sheffield FC Ladies at Stratford FC's ground, with the latter winning through a stoppage time goal. For the 2015/16, there will again be a play-off between the champions of the Southern and Northern Divisions. Cup Competitions The main cup competition of the WPL is the FA Women's Premier League Cup, a knock-out competition involving all of the teams within each of the six divisions that make up the WPL. Due to the changing structure of women's football, this competition has historically varied from a straight knock-out competition to a competition with a preliminary group stage before reaching the knock-out stage. From the 2014/15 season, the FA Women's Premier League Plate was introduced. Within the current structure of the Women's Premier League Cup, each of the teams compete in the preliminary round. The losers of this round then compete for the FA Women's Premier League Plate. External links *The Football Association – Women's Premier League official site *TV-Channel *femaleSOCCER.net – Girls and women's football including England Women's Premier League Category:FA Women's Premier League